Saturday, March 18, 2017

There are way better artists in this book than me, so i was kinda surprised and at first didn't believe that Lucas actually had asked me to be in it.

I was disappointed by the initial two pages i did for him, so i sent him a Maxx
page with an outback creature, as a sample that i could do "something like this" instead - and asked for another shot, luckily he agreed and suggested i do this extra piece for the limited edition.

So . . . once again, Maxx bailed me out.

Here's the full page. Almost looks like a outback creature, doesn't it?

Friday, March 17, 2017

I kinda like how quiet and reflective this cover is. The original version was a typical action pose.

But I like this introverted cover now better.

Though Maxx has humor and nonsense, there are some deeper issues in there. Though he's a grown homeless man, the Maxx reminds me of how withdrawn we all feel during adolescence, crap happens, and think were crazy, told we'll grow out of it once were adults.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Someone in the comments mentioned this Critters cover i did, which was a nod to Donald Duck artist Carl Barks.

My original black and white art for this is kinda boring, but i hand painted the color for it myself, and it came out kinda interesting, texture wise. Five o'clock shadow, bullet holes in the hat, small details were fun to paint.

The late Kim Thompson was the editor, and he was a big funny animal and Carl Barks fan, so in a way i was partly trying to impress him. Kim was super supportive of my efforts to break into comics, and a short wile back, he passed away quite suddenly.

I'll miss him.

So here's the awesome Barks version, which inspired me to do it in the first place.

Friday, March 10, 2017

While trying to break into comics, I drew a detective story as a tribute to Eisner's fine brush work.

Once I broke into comics, in Batman Secrets i added a news paper editor character, who was a nod to commissioner Dolan in the Spirit. Never met Eisner personally, but my old pal Bill Lobes was good friends with Einser, so i felt a connection there, in some modest way.

Although he's gone now, i'm just (joining many others) in paying tribute, not only style wise, but also for adding respectability to the whole form of graphic novels, way back when most considered comics to be only funny books for kids.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

This cover has a interesting backstory: I originally painted it towards the end of first Maxx series, but never wound up not using it. Then later, i threw it into a Maxx trading card set, but was bummed so much of the detail got lost in such a small card.

So for the Maximized books, i tweaked it a little, plus added this new Logo and it found new life in the reprints and the upcoming 100 Maxx Covers book.

Saturday, March 4, 2017

I know i've already posted today, but one of these Covers came together really quickly today for some reason.

For something different, the goal here was stuffing Maxx figure into a snug little square compositional space , then - (and I have no idea why, but for some reason ) - Maxx's back . . just started bunching up like a thick baggy carpet. Weird, huh?

Julie's also a lot loser and stylized here too just for fun.

This second one's a Klimt version of Julie still in pencil, and a more typical bulky Maxx, which still needs to be finished. I've only got half a dozen more covers to finish for the "Maxx 100 Covers" book.

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I know, you guys keep asking ( understandably) when i'll finish Nola, or the Big Book Of Twout, ( ~ all good questions. ) -

Hopefully both will come out this year, so stay tuned.

I don't wanna get mushy, but just gotta say . . I've never felt so honored I'm able to do this stuff for all you guys n' gals out there - i'm truly humbled that all of you fans out there, are the ones who have made goofy ideas like the Maxx possible in the first place!

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Art, Sketches, the Usual...

Above: Circa 1890's Image of the Magic Trout

Yup, I'm the comic book artist.

Just like everyone else's blog, stuff about what's on my drawing table right now, old art I'll dig up or new stuff I'm toiling away on. All the usual self-absorbed artist crap. Sorry I've been such a hermit the last few years. Check back for updates every week or so.